United Nations General Assembly A/HRC/16/52/Add.5 Distr.: General 7 February 2011 Original: English Human Rights Council Sixteenth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Addendum Mission to Papua New Guinea* Summary The present report contains the findings and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak, on his mission to Papua New Guinea, from 14 to 25 May 2010. On the basis of discussions with public officials, judges, lawyers and representatives of civil society, interviews with victims of violence and with persons deprived of their liberty, often supported by forensic medical evidence, the Special Rapporteur found isolated cases of torture in the classical sense of deliberately inflicting severe pain or suffering as a means of extracting a confession or information. He also found, however, a considerable number of cases where persons were subjected to different degrees of beatings by the police during arrest and as a form of punishment, which may also amount to torture. Impunity for torture and ill-treatment is fuelled by the lack of effective complaint mechanisms, independent investigations, monitoring and other similar safeguards. The Special Rapporteur found a general atmosphere of violence and neglect in places of detention. In police stations, detainees were locked up for long periods in overcrowded and filthy cells, without proper ventilation or natural light for periods of up to one year. The conditions in correctional institutions were better, but generally overcrowded. There was also an overall lack of medical attention, even for those who were * The summary of the present report is circulated in all official languages. The report itself, contained in the annex to the summary, is circulated in the language of submission only. The appendix is circulated as received. GE.11-10608

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